BECE Past Questions & Answers – 1996 (English)

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

PART 1
OBJECTIVE TEST
45 minutes

SECTION A COMPREHENSION

Read the following passages carefully and answer the questions which follow

PASSAGE I

The class was very quiet when suddenly Mr Mensah heard a giggle from the back of the classroom. Of late he has observed that giggling and murmuring have reared their ugly heads in the class. This time he was determined to find the cause of this naughty behaviour and discipline the culprits.

Pretending not to have heard the noise, he moved to the blackboard as if to write something on it but in reality to set a trap. Immediately the giggling and murmuring resumed, he turned and spotted three big boys at the back of the class chattering. His turning was so quick that he caught them right in the act. He also saw one of the boys passing on a magazine to the boy next to him.

With the speed of lightning, Mr Mensah got there, asked the three boys to stand up and then searched them in order to seize the magazine. Smart though he was, the boys were even smarter, for the boy sitting next to the window had thrown the magazine onto the veranda. After a thorough search Mr Mensah nearly gave up. It was, perhaps, an exercise book he had seen and not a magazine. However, his long years of teaching
experience suggested to him that the boys could have thrown the magazine outside. When he looked through the window, lo and behold, there lay the magazine! He retrieved it, flipped through it and saw that it was full of obscenities. Mr Mensah fumed.

1. According to the passage, Mr Mensah was determined to ………..
A. find the trouble makers. B. write on the board.
C. insult the class.
D. talk to the three big boys.

2. The children giggled and murmured because ………….

A. Mr Mensah turned to write on the board. B. they thought Mr Mensah was funny.
C. of what they saw in the magazine.
D. the boy near the window threw the magazine away.

3. The boys threw the magazine away because ………..
A. they were murmuring and giggling
B. the window was open
C. the teacher turned quickly
D. they did not want the teacher to see it.

4. The teacher found the magazine because …………
A. it was thrown onto the veranda
B. of his many years of teaching experience C. he walked quickly to the back of the class D. the children gave it to him

5. The expression have reared their ugly heads in the passage means have become unpleasantly ………..
A. common
B. funny
C. troublesome
D. ugly

6. The word fumed in the passage means ……….
A. exclaimed
B. left the room
C. smoked
D. became very angry

PASSAGE II

Kwadwo‟s naming ceremony on the fifteenth day was a grand occasion to which everyone at Elmina had come. Aboagye had specifically invited only the three elders but over three hundred people had come to the ceremony without any invitation.

“The ceremony will start at 5:30 a.m.”, Aboagye told everyone who passed his shop the previous day. They in turn went and told others and at 5 a.m., when the ceremony was about to begin, there were about seventy people already in the house.

“Will you bring chairs from the rooms?” Aboagye requested the young ones among the guests. They entered every room in the house and brought out chairs and benches of all shapes and sizes. They were placed in a circle with the three elders sitting in the centre. “Where is the child? The ceremony should be completed before the sun rises”. One of them said.

The mother soon brought the two-week old baby. Twelve calabashes scrubbed the previous day were brought. They looked white and dry. The old man took one and poured some of the gin into it. He raised the head of the child and dipped his finger into the gin. He turned and asked the second elder sitting next to him, “Have you got the name?” “Agyepong, alias Koo Kra” .

8. The expression of all shapes and sizes tells us the pieces of furniture were …………..
A. big
B. long
C. measured differently
D. of different types

9. Aboagye was a ………………
A. teacher
B. lawyer
C. counsellor
D. trader

10. The word grand means….
A. smooth B. solemn C. happy D. noisy

11. Which of the following is not true according to the passage?
A. The ceremony must be performed before sunrise
B. The elder dipped the head of the child into the calabash
C. The first elder did not know the name of the child
D. The ceremony was well attended.

SECTION B

Choose from the alternatives lettered A to D the one which is nearest in meaning to the underlined word in
each sentence

12. The thieves who raided the house last night have been rounded up.
A. killed B. beaten C. arrested
D. wounded

13. When you come across a new word look it up in a dictionary.
A. examine it
B. observe it
C. find the meaning
D. record the meaning